My next FW

02-28-2012, 09:29 AM

I'm 5'10" 180 pounds and fit. I would say I'm and intermediate advanced rider. My current quiver is for super small days 5'10" Tim Stamps quad fish, wish it was a sweet potato, 5'8" Dominator, 6' Quadraflex, 6'2" Tuflite Flyer 2. I surf at Trestles and Salt Creek about 95% of the time. Trestles is really my go to about 70% of the time. In the winter I will go to San Diego, or Palos Verdes to get some juice.

The stamps is my crap wave board. One day I plan on replacing it with something that rides more progressively like the Sweet Potato. The Dominator is my go to every day board. My Quadraflex only comes out when it starts to get good and I'm in shape, I just went through rehab for shoulder surgery and a torn ligament so my cardio is not the greatest at the moment. The Quadraflex is a board that I surfed a lot before I got the Dominator. It took some water through some small cracks on the rail. It has probably lost a little buoyancy but it still goes pretty good. It is an older model that I believe was smaller than the ones that came after it. Next in line is my Tufflite. I use that board as a step up. It floats me like a 6'6". Even though it can feel kind of weird on big, heavy clean days it actually rides pretty well for me. I have had it in 12 to 15 foot faces in Palos Verdes, Blacks and Ocean Beach in San Fran this is def the max out edge of this board for me but seeing how I live and surf where I do there is maybe a couple times a year where I wish I had something bigger.

So I am missing a high performance thruster in my quiver. I plan on taking the Quadraflex to Bashams to see if they think they can put one FCS plug in for the knubster to give that board a little better feel off the bottom and in long hard cutties. I know Chris warned against adding a center fin to that board because of some structural issues that might come up but I'm thinking the small knubster mixed with the knowledge of the guys at Bashams it wont be an issue.

The Dom is a great board but there have been some better days where I caught a rail because the board isn't quite high performance enough. The same days I might not be to keen on the quadraflex because I want a little more paddle advantage, too many kooks in the water. That mixed with the fact that my quadraflex is probably closer to the end of its life than all of my other boards has me thinking the Hellfire might be the perfect board to add to my quiver. I'm thinking it will be a board that I can find a lot of good days on and it seems to be high performance enough to fill the void of my quadraflex when it dies, at least for a little while anyways. Then there is the Hellrazor too, maybe to high perfomance for the waves I surf most of the time?

I apologize for the lengthy post but any help would be great. Thanks guys. And to all the guys at Firewire I will play my sax for boards so if you guys want some funky, jazzy top notch sax playing for say a discount or a musicians board sponsership hit me up!! If not I saving my clams right now.

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The Hellrazor would be a fun one for you I think. 601 would give you plenty of volume, but how do you feel about that length? 511 might be a little low volume.
I don't think you can go wrong with the Hellfire either, everyone loves that board.

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I'm thinking anywhere in the chest to overhead range. I guess as soon as it gets good enough to put the dominator away. Don't get me wrong the Dom has served me well in those conditions but as I said I want something more high performance.

Yeah you know, I am loving the Hellrazor here in North County. I thought it would be too refined, but it has been great. the 601 could work perfect. Also worth looking at would be the two Michel 600s. Chuy is about 175-180 and he loves the 600 thicker version. great high performance thruster for SoCal conditions...

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I surf Trestles the most but almost never at lowers. Church, middles and uppers are my spots most of the time. I just can't get over the crowd factor at lowers. There are times when I wonder if the volume on my quadraflex is a little low for me just cuz it floats me right at my nipples but it actually seems to catch waves pretty well and when I'm on a good wave the board rides very well. I guess I also used to try and grovel on the quadraflex and a groveler it is not.

yeah. I think it depends on your own preferences. I am about 170-175 and I ride the 508 dom as well and find it to be at about the top of where I want my volume to be on a performance board.

For Churches and Middles, I think the Hellfire is the best board, but a head+ day at blacks, or good little beach break session at Salt Creek, you are going to get a ton out of the mIchel or the Hellrazor.

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So I just went outside and grabbed the specks for my quadraflex. It is 6 / 19.25 / 2.25. Looking at the 6 quadraflex in the board comparision function the quadraflex that you list is the bigger board at 6 / 19.3 / 2.38 with 28.5L of volume. I have had some all time epic days at trestles on my quadraflex and mine has less volume and probably lost some float and gained some weight because of some water damage. So I was looking at the 6'1" Hellrazor and I'm thinking that board might be the one. For days at Church when it is chest or better but not super critical I think the Razor as a quad with a Knubster might be insane. It would obviously be great at salt creek. I think the little bit of extra foam on the razor compared to my quadraflex would make it handle Church just fine and paddle a little better than my QF too.

What do you guys think? Is the bigger 6'1" razor going to out perform my 6 QF?

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I met that guy at NAMM. NAMM is the biggest music industry trade show. He was doing this there, it was super funny. He is actually a pretty good sax player and tours with some pretty well know artist. He has some brass ones, lol!!!

Back on point do you think the 6'1" Hellrazor will out perform my old 6' QF in worse and better conditions. I'm leaning towards a yes. Especialy considering I'm turning 35 in march and getting a little more foam could be key. At times on bottom turns on my QF I feel like I don't have enough volume, rail or maybe lack of a center fin so I can't push as hard as say my dom as a quad with a knubster or any of my thrusters. That is one reason why I was thinking of getting an fcs box put in just for a knubster.

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I'm sure this video has been around the forum already but it has made me want the HR over the HF. The wave the guy is surfing reminds me of church on a decent day. I think the 6'1" will give me enough volume that I can push the upper limits of size with it and it will be a better paddle than the quadraflex. I think this board is going to be an insane addition to my Dom. Once I have it I see no need in keeping my quadraflex. I will not add any fin plugs to the quadraflex either. I just hope I can get some decent money for the board. The hellrazor just squirts so hard of the bottom anytime he goes vert. It looks like an insane board. I will pass on the MB just cuz I like the 5 fin option.